1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a case database storage/retrieval system which effectively stores and swiftly retrieves case data such as claims and inquiries from customers including operation descriptions and situation descriptions variable with time, relational expressions of object physical components, object photograph information, and organizational information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some companies which sell products and provide services have a section to receive inquiries and claims from customers. This section stores the received inquiries and claims as a database. In case of receiving an additional inquiry or claim, the section retrieves the database to check if there was a similar inquiry or claim. And, if there was, the response which was used in the past case is referred to as an aid to deal with the additional inquiry or claim.
To make such inquiry and claim cases into the database, two methods are available. One method provides a hierarchy of concepts showing the contents of cases and fastens the cases to the leaves of the hierarchy in order to store them as shown in FIG. 21. The example of FIG. 21 stores inquiry cases concerning a personal computer communication service. For example, several typical classifications are lined below the leading node "inquiry" showing all inquiries. And, one of them is an "electronic mail". This electronic mail node is further classified into "sending" and "receiving", and actual inquiry cases are fastened to them. When retrieving, this concept hierarchy is traced from top to bottom. Specifically, an overview of the retrieving content is first understood, it is further classified in detail, and the concept hierarchy is traced downward.
A second method uses a relational database management system to express each case as one record of the relational database as shown in FIG. 22.
In the relational data base, each record is expressed as a collection of attribute values. Therefore, the collection of these records is represented as a two-dimensional table. When retrieving, an inquiry is decomposed into several attributes, and the conditions of these attributes are established. For example, FIG. 22 shows a database of automobiles. When "a car name is A, a color is of a red family, and a type is sedan" are specified, setting of specific conditions with respect to these attributes (car name, color and type) can form a retrieval equation for the database. In the case of SQL (structured query language) which is a database language for the relational data base, the retrieval equation is as follows. EQU Select * from database where car name="A" and color in ("red", "orange") and type="sedan";
The above case database is heavily required to be able to be retrieved quickly, because retrieval cannot take time when a customer makes an inquiry by telephone or face to face. But, a certain type of inquiry or claim may have a significant meaning in the permutation of situation or operation which changes with time. For example, claim information on a specific product from a customer generally expresses, "When I conducted X, the machine responded as Y. And, when I tried to conduct Z, there was no response." In this example, retrieval using the case databases of FIG. 21 and FIG. 22 has difficulty.
In the concept hierarchy exemplified in FIG. 21, the top and bottom nodes of the hierarchy have differences to make the same content abstract to express or more specific to express. And, next to the hierarchy, there is no meaningful relation between the nodes at the same level. For example, the "introduction", "connection" and "electronic mail" in FIG. 21 are nodes present at the same level, but they have no relation in meaning. Therefore, a case, "When I conducted X, the machine responded as Y. And, when I tried to conduct Z, there was no response." which corresponds to a flow of situation and operation with time cannot be retrieved.
And, when the relational database exemplified in FIG. 22 is used, there is no meaningful relation among individual attributes in the relational database. For example, the "car name", "color" and "type" attributes are independent respectively in FIG. 22. Therefore, a case corresponding to a flow of situation and operation with time cannot be retrieved.
In the above case database, the retrieval by a special indexing may have a significant meaning. Its example will be described below.
First, a condition which changes with time and a description of operating situations may have a significant meaning.
For example, in the example of claim information about a specific product from a customer, "When I conducted X, the machine responded as Y. And, when I tried to conduct Z, there was no response.", a status change with time of the operation and condition between the user and the machine is expressed. In this case, when the static concept hierarchy of FIG. 21 is represented or the record in the relational table of FIG. 22 is represented, there was a disadvantage of making a retrieval equation difficult how retrieval can be made when storing or retrieving. This is because each node (section) in the hierarchy has difficulty in expressing a status change variable with time in the concept hierarchy of FIG. 21. Furthermore, when the retrieval must be made swiftly to respond to a customer by telephone or at the window, taking time to retrieval is a very serious problem.
Second, the relation of an object component may have a significant meaning.
For example, in claim information about a specific product from a customer, a typical expression is, "A trouble took place when data was transmitted from one module to another module." In this example, the object is a specific product. And, the customer uses a spatial relation of the object components to explain his complaint. In this case too, there are disadvantages of making storing and retrieving difficult when the static concept hierarchy of FIG. 21 is used to express or the relational table of FIG. 22 is used to manage. This is because the individual nodes (section) in the hierarchy have difficulty to express a spatial condition in the concept hierarchy of FIG. 21.
Third, object physical image information may have a significant meaning.
For example, in claim information about a specific product received from a customer by telephone, a typical expression is, "When the second red button from right is turned, a lamp below it blinks." In this case, the object is a specific product. And, the complaint is explained on the precondition that a physical image on the object photograph is just in sight. In this case, there are disadvantages of making storing and retrieving difficult when the static concept hierarchy of FIG. 21 is used to express or the relational table of FIG. 22 is used to manage. This is because the individual nodes (section) in the hierarchy have difficulty to express an object physical appearance condition in the concept hierarchy of FIG. 21.
Fourth, the organized expression of an object may have a significant meaning.
For example, when technical information about a specific product is circulated in-house, a typical expression is, "You had better make an inquiry about difficulty information on word processor software to XX Development Dept. 2 which often designs. But, actual development is made by a subcontractor, YY Software 3, and production is made, too." In this example, the object is the relation between specific organizations. As a difficulty memo retrieval index, the organization (e.g. XX Development Dept. 2) and the relation between the organizations (XX Development Dept. 2 and YY Software 3) are used. In this case, there are disadvantages of making storing and retrieving difficult when the static concept hierarchy of FIG. 21 is used to express or the relational table of FIG. 22 is used to manage. This is because the individual nodes (section) in the hierarchy have difficulty to express an object physical appearance condition in the concept hierarchy of FIG. 21.